No Other Way
by harrysaxonandjohnsmith
Summary: The Doctor and Donna go to a planet called Drellmonistae, which has no atmosphere, yet where people can still breathe. What originally started as a trip to find out more about this phenomenon turns into a greater adventure, one which may or may not end well. Set after Planet of the Ood.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

**Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who...at this point I think it owns me...**

"Donna Noble," the Doctor said. "Outside these doors, a new planet, no OodSphere, no anything sad." He held out his arm toward the door, palm open.

"Oh, I'm still scared, though." she said. "But excited too. This never grows old!" The Doctor grinned.

"Me too."

Together, they stepped outside, and her breath was instantly taken away by what she saw. The ground was roughly the same as what was back on Earth, same colour rocks. Except they weren't at the same time. They were shinier than what would be out in nature on Earth, and a variety of different shapes.

And in front of them, towering mountains swirling like ice cream, twisting toward the heavens. A cream sunset stretched across the sky, and the ground was dotted with little white flowers for as far as the eye could see.

"It's-it's beautiful." she said. "And it's a different planet. A different planet with me on it. Again!" She laughed out loud. "Still hard to believe."

"It's called Drellmonistae." the Doctor said. "Part of the galaxy of Forgotten Memories." He slung an arm around Donna's shoulder and looked down at his companion. "Kinda a sad name, I know." he said, responding to the look he got. "But it's not a sad place at all. It's a place of peace and beauty. And cold if you come in the winter. I learned that the hard way." They both chuckled. "But otherwise, fantastic planet."

"So, you've been here before, then?" Donna asked.

"Once for a few minutes, a long time ago. Left because of the cold, though, and maybe the fact that the TARDIS was leaving without me." he replied. "But I never got a chance to look around properly!" He pointed to the crest of closer mountain. Donna could see a faint light there. "Do you fancy a walk?" he asked, grinning. "Let's go meet whoever lives all the way up there!"

Once more excited, Donna beamed and readily agreed. She was now fairly grateful for the fact that she had brought her hatbox, because it was starting to get a bit windy. She had grabbed a purple knit one with the two tassels before leaving the TARDIS, convinced she'd use her hats sometime, if only to prove it wasn't pointless to bring them.

"D'you know the odd thing about this planet is that they have no atmosphere." the Doctor said. "Yet we're breathing, and the people who live here are breathing just fine. Weather and everything."

"You brought me to a planet where we might _not_ have been able to _breathe_?" Donna asked in mock outrage. "Glad to know you care about me that much..." The Doctor stopped walking, causing Donna to stop too.

His expression was serious when Donna looked back. "Donna," he said. "You know I care about you. You're my best friend!" He was a tiny bit scared she didn't know that, but of course she knew.

"I was joking." she said. "I know you care." She smiled, and the Doctor smiled too. They started walking again. Donna looked down at the ground when she said, "And, uh, I care a lot about you too. If you wanted to know." Even though she couldn't see him, Donna knew the Doctor was smiling.

The farther up the mountain they got, the colder it became. Of course it is, Donna thought, as was per usual with mountains. She supposed it didn't matter whether or not they were on an alien planet or back on Earth. It still wasn't as cold as on the planet of the Ood, though, for which she was grateful.

"So, that's why we're here?" Donna asked after a moment. "The atmosphere?" The Doctor grinned.

"Yeah, I picked up some weird readings in the TARDIS. Thought I'd have a look." he said. Donna smiled and laughed.

"And I just thought you wanted to show me new alien planets." she joked. "Come on, then, let's go investigate these mysterious going-ons."

They made it to the top of the hill in a little under ten minutes later. What greeted them was a small concrete building, rectangular in shape, that had a blinking light on its roof and some power boxes attached to the side of the wall. It had no markings otherwise, and was rather unremarkable.

"Let's go see who's home." the Doctor said, walking up to and knocking on the door. He smiled back at his companion while they waited for someone to answer the door. Eventually, it swung open and a man stepped out.

But he was a man like no other man Donna had ever met before. His skin was pale, verging on the palest of pale purples, and his hair was completely white, not an ounce of colour touching it. He was thin, and he wore heavy fur clothing, like he was dressed for snow and strong winds. Donna thought this strange, as it felt perfectly nice out, just a bit nippy. In fact, his coat would have rivaled hers the last time they went to a planet. The man raised his eyebrows in inquiry and asked, "Who are you? What are you doing here? This is only a guard station, not a safe house."

"I'm the Doctor, this is Donna." the Doctor said. He waved and Donna copied him, still intrigued by the odd appearance of this man. Well, he was alien of course. "Guard station? Safe house, what's that?" her friend asked, his expression changing to interest and curiosity.

"What- you don't know?" the man said, looking at them strangely. "We guard the Valley, try to stop anyone being taken. Though at this point we mainly just count those lost." The last bit was muttered under his breath. He pointed in the opposite direction from where they had come. "Out there, that's where the pilgrims come."

"Pilgrims?" Donna asked. "From where?" The man rolled his eyes, opened the door a little wider, and started going back inside.

"Come in, getting a bit cold out here." he said. "I can answer all your questions." The Doctor grinned at Donna and stepped inside, Donna following close behind. "And close the door behind you!" the man called from the next room.

"Sorry, what's your name?" the Doctor asked. The man turned around and sat down in a big, official looking chair.

"Kellen." he said. "Kellen O'Mark." The Doctor smiled.

"Nice to meet you, Kellen O'Mark!" he said cheerfully.

The room they stepped into was filled with machines and computers, and lots and lots of dials spinning around wildly. It seemed like a control room of some sort, not a guard station, and the man that had opened the door seemed to be the only one there. "How is this a guard station?" Donna muttered to the Doctor, who shrugged and bent down to look at some readings.

"Right, you have questions. Fire away." he said, looking out across the Valley through a huge window. The Doctor leaned against the one bit of wall that was bare, and Donna stood off to the side, wanting to look around but not wanting to miss the answers to the questions.

"Right, the Pilgrims." the Doctor said. "Who are they?"

"They come from across the Valley. Nobody knows who they actually are, but we know that they possess knowledge far beyond what we know." he answered. "They come over every year, and then keep walking until I suppose they get to their camp." He pointed over where the TARDIS had landed. "I don't see it, but I think it's over there somewhere."

"What about the safe houses?" Donna asked, recalling something he had said before. "What are those?" The man looked over to her.

"Well, that's where the pilgrims hide, obviously." he answered. "Keeps them away from the things." He shivered at the thought of these unknown things.

"And what things would those be?" the Doctor asked quietly, leaning forward.

"Well, the things that snatch away travelers in the Valley, of course." he said. "You're not from around here, I can tell. Else you'd know about them."

"No, we're from way far away." the Doctor said. "What do these things look like?" The man shrugged.

"Don't know. Nobody does, but one second there you are, perfectly fine, and the next you're gone. Just like that, out of thin air." The man looked frightened but determined to put up a brave face.

"And what do you do about them?" Donna asked. "Have you tried to investigate?"

"No, everyone's scared. Don't want to go out there if we can help it." he said defensively. "You better stay away too, if you know what's good for you."

"Good thing I don't, then." the Doctor said, and stood up. "Donna, you wait here. Might be dangerous." Donna shook her head.

"Yeah, no, that's not going to work." Donna said. "I'm coming too." Kellen gave both of the travelers a look that clearly said, 'You're mad, completely mad!'

"But there are things out there, snatching things!" the Doctor said. "I don't need you hurt, or taken, or something." Donna shook her head again and started walking to the door. The Doctor went after him, still trying to convince her to stay back.

"Doctor, you can stop telling me to stay in there." Donna said, stepping outside. "You're stuck with me." He smiled, and the Doctor sighed.

"Right, I never can reason with you." he said. "Allons-y, Donna!"

And off they went, toward mysterious things and potential danger, the Doctor and his companion, armed with a screwdriver, a lot of confidence and what the Doctor would describe as timey-wimey knowledge.

It took them about a minute or two to get to the Valley. The land was flat and sparsely dotted with tufts of greyish grass. It was very bleak and kind of abandoned looking. Nobody, no pilgrims or mysterious things, were out walking.

"So, what's our plan, Doctor?" Donna asked, looking around. "Just sonic around, or what?"

The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver and whirred it around in a wide circle. "I can't pick up anything in the air." he said. "But, can you-" He stuck his tongue out and them pulled a face as if he had tasted something sour. "Donna, can you taste something? Something metalic, something strong, stinging?"

Donna too tasted the air, and she did taste what the Doctor did. "Like metal in gas form?" she guessed. "Or like there was something metal here before, but now it's gone?"

"Or," the Doctor said, drawing out the single word. "Teleportation? Snatching people out of thin air, Kellen said. Disappearing?"

Donna nodded, catching on. "You think they teleported?" she asked. The Doctor nodded, grinning.

"Or someone else teleported them out of here." he said. "Either way, we know the thing is somewhere else, my guess is up there." He pointed up at the sky, which was clear and darkening.

"A ship. An alien ship kidnapping innocent people." Donna craned her neck back to stare into the sky. "What do we do about it?"

"Nothing we can do about it now." the Doctor said. "We don't know for certain where they are, or what they're like. Can't take the TARDIS up there, too risky."

Donna bit her lip and tilted his head to the left. "So, we wait?" he asked. "We do what, just watch and look around."

"Back to the guard station, I think." he said. "I want to take a look at some of the graphs and numbers Kellen had." He turned back and started walking the way they came.

"Doctor!" Donna called. "What are we looking for? What are we facing?" The Doctor turned around to see her, his face serious.

"I don't know." he said. "I have no idea at all." Donna could see that this, if nothing else, frightened him. The Doctor always had some idea of what they were up against, or what to do. Always could spout out some facts and connect the dots. But not today, not with this.

"It's alright." she said, trying to be encouraging. "It's alright that you don't know. _I_ don't know. You're brilliant, you'll think of something." She offered a small smile and her hand, both of which the Doctor returned.

"Yeah, I guess so." he said. And they walked in silence all the way back.

Kellen greeted them warmly, with a cheery, if dark, "Oh, I'm so glad you two didn't get taken by those things and lost forever. That would have been too bad." Donna nodded, immediately feeling much happier that they were still there, and the Doctor went into the other room, where he immediately pulled out sheets of paper and started looking through them.

"Coffee, tea?" Kellen asked. "It's a bit cold out there, I know." Donna actually thought it was nice, but accepted a coffee anyway. "Anything for you, Doctor?" he asked. The Doctor shook his head.

A few minutes later, Donna had her mug and was watching the Doctor work, his glasses on and scouring the read outs for anything useful. Kellen leaned against the counter with her and took a sip from his own coffee.

"So, are you two together, then?" he asked. "You and the Doctor?" Donna looked at him in surprise, even though this assumption was far from unusual now.

"No, no, friends." she said forcefully. "We're not together. Never, ever are we together."

"Sorry, because I saw you out there, and I just thought..." he said, letting his words trail off. He shook his head. "So, do you have anyone?"

Donna thought of home for the first time in a while. Of Lance. She sighed and said, "I used to, a long time ago. But I'm better without him." She laughed a little bit and added, "He was working with a giant spider, so no real loss there."

"Donna?" the Doctor called suddenly. "Look at this." Both went over, but the Doctor turned to Donna. "See that right there?" he asked, pointing to something on the graph. "Energy spikes."

"That's the teleportation." Donna assumed out loud. "Is that normal?"

"Kind of low, so we know that they aren't far from here." the Doctor said. "Probably still on the planet."

"Well, that's good, then." Donna said. "We can find them easier." But the Doctor still didn't look relieved.

"Well, no." he said. "The threat is a lot closer too, harder to get rid of if they're living here."

Donna and the Doctor then searched through all of the records from the station to see if they could find any clue as to where the Pilgrims were being taken or who was doing the taking. However, at the end of the hour, they found nothing.

"So, you think these were your weird readings in the TARDIS?" she asked him, remembering what he had said earlier.

"Well, no, I don't think this is it." he said. "Those were something different."

Donna sighed in fake annoyance. "Right, another alien threat we know nothing about. Great!"

"Kellen?" the Doctor called, turning around. "Did you notice anything strange in the past, around when the Pilgrims started vanishing?" he shook his head though, offering nothing of use.

"It's been going on for as long as I can remember, as long as anyone remembers." he said. "But I guess you could try the Pilgrims camp. They're older than any of us."

"Right." the Doctor said. "Onward we go!" He turned to Donna and smiled.

She returned the smile and pulled her hat back on, setting the mug down. "Partners in crime, again. Sort of." she said, linking her arm through his. "Let's go!"

**A/N My first multi-chapter fic! Yay! Hope you like it. Thank you for all of your reviews, and for taking the time to read!**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

**Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who...at this point I think it owns me...**

The two of them once more walked out of the guard house, but this time headed back in the direction of the TARDIS. It took them a bit less time to get back to the little blue box than it had leaving it, because they were walking downhill.

"Hold on, I want to grab something before we go." the Doctor said. He ran into the TARDIS and came back a moment later with an odd sort of circular device, which was emitting a high pitched squeal.

"What is that?" Donna asked, looking annoyed by the sound.

"It'll help us find the teleport." he said. "I don't know exactly what it is, but it's helped in the past." He shrugged and started walking again.

Donna ran to catch up with him. "Well, could you turn it down?" she asked. "It's a bit loud."

"Oh, yeah, sorry." he said. "Here." The screeching stopped at once. Now it was just buzzing.

They walked for another quarter hour, but there was no sign of any pilgrim camp. "We're definitely beyond the range of the guard house's sight now." the Doctor said.

"So where are they?" Donna asked the question that was on both of their minds. They were at a loss.

"I don't know." he said. "But I'm going to scan around and see what I find." He pulled out his sonic screwdriver and crouched down, inspecting the ground. Donna noticed some rocks and thought she saw movement there, just for a second.

"Doctor..." she called, already walking toward them. "I'm just going to look over here." He raised his hand to show he heard her, and then went back to his work.

She went over to the rocks and stood on her toes, trying to see everything. "Hello?" she said in a raised voice. "Is there anyone there?"

Slowly, a head popped out from between two rocks. "Can you help?" a small voice asked. It was a child. He had messy brown hair and wide green eyes that were looking at her.

"I can help." she said, trying to be reassuring. "What's your name?"

In a shaky voice, he replied, "Thomas." She smiled warmly at him and held out her hands to him.

"Alright, Thomas, just come out to me and I can help you." she said. The boy, who can't have been older than five or six, timidly stepped out from the rocks where he was hiding and, grasping Donna's arm for support, made his way over the boulders to her.

"Who are you?" Thomas asked shyly. "How can you help?"

"My name's Donna." she said kindly. "Me and my friend are trying to help your people. He's right over there." She pointed to the Doctor. "Come on, I've got you." She held out her hand for Thomas to hold, and slowly they walked over to the Doctor.

"Doctor!" Donna said. "I found something, or make that someone." She smiled and looked down at Thomas.

"Oh, hello there!" he said brightly. "I'm the Doctor." He knelt down to be on Thomas's level.

"His name is Thomas." Donna said. "And he wants us to help him."

"Are you one of the pilgrims, Thomas?" he asked. The little boy nodded, a bit shy now that there were two adults. "Do you know anything about the teleport?" he continued. This time he hesitated before nodding again.

"Can you tell us?" Donna asked gently.

"I'm not allowed to." he said in a stronger voice. The Doctor glanced at Donna for a second, and both of their eyes flashed with curiosity.

"Why not?" the Doctor asked.

"Dad says so." was his answer. He then refused to talk about it any more.

"Okay, do you know where the camp is, then?" Donna asked, trying a new direction. "And why are you all alone?"

"The camp was here." he said, pointing at the ground.

"Why is it gone?" she asked in return. At this, Thomas looked frightened and didn't answer. She then realized that it was darkening and that the air was cooling. "Let's head back, Doctor." she said. "I don't know about you, but I don't really want to be out here with mad teleporters at night." He agreed and so they started walking back to the guard station.

Halfway along the trek back, Thomas's feet started dragging and Donna started to carry him in her arms. "So the pilgrims know about the teleports." she said in a quiet voice once the little boy had dozed off. "Do you think someone destroyed the camp because of that?"

The Doctor was lost in thought. "I don't know." he said. "Maybe, maybe not. I didn't see much sign of a struggle, did you?" She shook her head.

"So, what, you think they just moved?" she asked.

"Or were chased away."he offered. "But tell you what, though, my little machine here doesn't take too kindly to Thomas here. Don't know why, but I suspect he could be helpful." They were back at the guard house again, and the door quickly opened when they knocked.

"Come in." Kellen said, smiling. "Did you find anything?" His eyes fell on Thomas. "Besides the baby?" Donna laughed and set the little pilgrim down on a chair.

"No, not really." the Doctor said. "The pilgrims know something about the teleport, and the camp wasn't there." He sighed and sank into the controllers seat, putting his feet up. "But that's it."

"Ah, well, that's more than anyone else knows." he said kindly.

He sighed. "I suppose so..."

"Did you pick up any teleport exchange where the camp was?" she asked, trying to think of everything that she could.

"Lots, actually, but I bet that's just because they walked through the Valley." he said. "Unless..." He suddenly sat bolt upright and grinned. "Donna, I think you got it."

"Got what?" she asked, confused.

"They have the teleports." he said excitedly. "The pilgrims are the one's with the teleports."

She still didn't follow though, and said, "How can the pilgrims have the teleports? They were the one's getting teleported." He stood up and pointed at her.

"Exactly. They make the teleports." he explained. "That's why Thomas didn't want to talk about it with us."

Oh!" Donna said, catching on. "And maybe they are hiding from something, someone who found out about them." He nodded eagerly and she grinned.

"Right, I'll leave you two to that." Kellen said, stretching. "I'm catching some z's." He went back to another room and closed the door with a snap.

"So, what do we do about it?" she asked. He laughed a little bit.

"That is a good question." he said. She chuckled. "We could go back and try to trace them. Find out where they are."

Donna nodded and then thought of something that hadn't occurred to her before. "Is what they're doing illegal, though? Or are they harmful?" she asked. "I mean, we don't need to find them if they aren't doing anything wrong."

"We at least need to make sure they aren't using them for something sinister." he said. "And I don't think they're doing this alone, either."

Donna yawned, realizing that it was actually quite late. "I'll just get Thomas to sleep, then." she said, turning around. But the little boy was nowhere to be seen.

"Where'd he go?" she asked. Suddenly, there was a great ringing in her ears, and from the Doctor's face, she could guess he heard it too.

"You would have done well to stop searching." a rasping voice said out of nowhere. "You have come too far."

"Who are you?" the Doctor asked the invisible voice.

"That hardly matters." it replied. "But now you must be stopped." The Doctor's eyes were wide.

"You don't want to do that." he said. "You should listen to me, because I have some brilliant reasons you should keep us alive." Donna hoped that it would want to hear what he had to say. For a few seconds nothing happened.

"Talk." it said at last in a patient tone.

"Right, so you need people, people to build you the teleport system." he said, jumping right into it. "But then you take them? What is that about? So you need power for something, something you can't do on your own." The voice surprisingly remained silent. "You don't need those people, though. I can help you. If you want to rebuild your ship, I can help you, but leave these people alone."

"Ship? You don't even know who we are." the voice said, and Donna thought whoever it was must be smiling to itself. "How can you help us?"

"Just take me to you. Leave everyone else alone." he said.

"Oh, no, I don't think quite yet." it said. "In time we will meet, Doctor, but not yet." And it was silent.

"What was that?" Donna asked, shocked. The Doctor looked grim.

"I'd say that is who's in charge here." he said. "The one taking people." She nodded, then remembered Thomas.

"What about the little boy, though, Doctor?" she asked. "What happened to him?"

"I don't think he was ever here, Donna." he said. "A distraction. Which means that we were very close to them today."

"So we can go back there tomorrow?" she asked. "We know where they are."

"Well, yeah, we could." he said. "We could do that. See, what I'm thinking is, if this thing can communicate with us telepathically like that, with no physical link, then it sure doesn't need help building teleportation devices." He pointed to the graphs on the table. "Not these kind, anyway. Which means they need those people for something else."

"Like what?" she asked. He shook his head.

"I don't know, but I am going to find out and put an end to it."

**A/N Thank you very much for continuing to read this, and big thank you to dm1 and Izwick for reviewing! I appreciate it very much :D**


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